With the largest reverse-osmosis desalination plant in the world, Israel is now the only country in the Middle East to have a water surplus, says Ensia. But if other countries take Israel’s cue, all that extra water could mean less fighting.
Policy experts believe that drought is pushing political unrest in the Middle East, and certainly in Syria, where desperate farmers forced to move to shantytowns gave rise to a civil war. Similar drought-fueled conflicts have flared in countries like Lebanon and Jordan. “Water is driving the entire region to desperate acts,” says Ensia.
But Israel has so far avoided the same fate. It started implementing strict water-use rules in 2008, after a 10-year drought had nearly ruined the Sea of Galilee—Israel’s main water source—with salt infiltration. Some farmers had to forgo a year’s worth of crops. But while the country’s updated water-treatment centers capture for irrigation 86 percent of water that goes down the drain, the real game changer has been desalination.
Typically, desalination facilities are incredibly expensive to operate because microbes quickly colonize the tubing involved in the process. But Israeli researchers have developed a chemical-free way to filter out bacteria using porous lava rock. “Israel now gets 55 percent of its domestic water from desalination,” says Ensia. If other countries take advantage of the same technology, water could be depoliticized, making it no longer a thing to fight over. To that end, a $900-million U.S.-led venture is trying to encourage peace between old enemies by building a desalination plant on the border of Jordan and Israel, and parceling the water out to Jordanians, Palestinians and Israelis. The project should be complete by 2020, potentially encouraging foes to at least drink from the same tap.